Page 64 - Holidays with Kids - Volume 62 (January 2020)

CANBERRA, ACT

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they’re carving up the specialised rolling nylon fibre mats
and getting tips on technique from Austrian ski coach,
Paolo Bellini. Paolo agrees, nothing can ever replace real
mountain slopes. But how good is it to be able to train year
round, improve your skills and retain muscle memory all
on a never-ending run? .
Blinded by science
Brave is the school, or parent, that doesn’t include
Questacon in its Canberra excursion itinerary. The
National Science and Technology Centre is so good that,
once home, you’ll suspect your kids have been implanted
with magnets to draw them back. The magnets are a
possibility in the future (and a great marketing tactic?) but
it’s a good question for the experts at Questacon’s 'Born or
Built' exhibition, where you will will learn how machines
are becoming more humanlike and how bodies are
becoming more mechanised. Artificial intelligence has
been in my family for years. Emphasis on artificial. But here
you’ll see real AI in action as you put the robots to the test.
Twilight adventures
With every tiny bounce of the eastern bettong, your heart
will leap to see this cute marsupial back on home ground
after being hunted to extinction on mainland Australia.
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I love Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary so much,
and thanks to Tasmania (where the bettong survived),
01 Quizzic Alley is the place for Potterheads © Jessleephotography 02 Kids scooting
around Commonwealth Place © VisitCanberra 03 Vertikal Indoor Snow Sports © there are now hundreds of bettongs bouncing around this
Claire Armit 04 Lake Burley Griffin © jinkyart.com.au 485-hectare fenced sanctuary, protected from predators.
The bettong is nocturnal, so a twilight tour offers the best
chance to see them. Expect lots of whispered "ooohs" and
"ahhs" on this tour and keep a lookout for the bettong’s
roomies: eastern quolls, bandicoots, sugar gliders and
night birds such as the bush stone-curlew.

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